Meaning of consequence in English

consequence

/ˈkɒn.sɪ.kwəns/ us

/ˈkɑːn.sə.kwəns/

a result of a particular action or situation, often one that is bad or not convenient:

serious consequences Not making a will can have serious consequences for your children and other family members.

dire consequences Eating too much processed food can have dire health consequences.

as a consequence of Scientists think it is unlikely that any species will actually become extinct as a consequence of the oil spill.

unintended consequence The discovery came about as an unintended consequence of a search for something else.

suffer the consequences Well, if you insist on eating so much, you'll have to suffer (= accept and deal with) the consequences!

face the consequences He will have to face the consequences of his actions.

take the consequences If someone commits a crime, they have to take the consequences.

Thesaurus: synonyms, antonyms, and examples

the result of something

resultHis firing was a direct result of his refusal to follow the employment policies.
effectThe radiation leak has had a disastrous effect on the environment.
consequenceFailure to do proper safety checks may have serious consequences.
outcomeIt's too early to predict the outcome of the meeting.
upshotThe upshot of the discussions is that there will be no further redundancies.
end resultThe end result of these changes should be a more efficient system for dealing with complaints.

See more results »

of little/no consequence C1 (also not of any/much consequence)

not important:

The money was of little consequence to Tony.

More examplesFewer examples

The accident was the inevitable consequence of carelessness.
He left as a direct consequence of what she said.
The drought has had devastating consequences.
The government is trying to do more to educate the public about the consequences of drug abuse.
He always makes snap decisions and never thinks about their consequences.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Outcomes and consequences

See more results »

(Definition of consequence from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

consequence | American Dictionary

consequence

noun

/ˈkɑn·sɪ·kwəns, -ˌkwens/

consequence noun (RESULT)

Add to word list Add to word list

[ C usually pl ]

a result of an action or situation, esp. (in the plural) a bad result:

For someone who is old and weak, the consequences of a broken hip can be serious.

consequence noun (IMPORTANCE)

[ U ]

the condition of having a lasting effect; importance:

Last summer there were 15 hurricanes, but only one was of any consequence.

(Definition of consequence from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of consequence

consequence

The points of view of individual writers are as a consequence their own, and do not reflect the opinion of the editorial board.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

In practice the pace of expenditure and deficit reduction was in advance of that planned and as a consequence tax relaxation was possible.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The abolitionist was, constitutionally speaking, neither officer nor prisoner and as a consequence may stand for the ordinary citizen - "society," the people at large.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The unsatisfactory housing of these older people can be expected to have consequences for their physical and psychological well-being.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

The fitness consequences of bearing domatia and having the right ant partner: experiments with protective and non-protective ants in a semi-myrmecophyte.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It is, rather, a trivial consequence of the way in which the terms "distal representations" and "representations of events" are defined.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Such reports highlight consequences that affect development prospects in general.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Facts that have such consequences are, so to speak, ' embedded ' in the world's past, as part of the causal processes leading up to the present.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As a consequence, three distinct occupational roles now exist within the profession, one integrated and two specialised.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

It stresses the need people have to learn from the consequences of their choices.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As a consequence the editors did not leave much space for culture in the sense of aesthetic and symbolic representation.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

They are all straightforward consequences of the definitions.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

Finally, the extent of negative consequences of a disorder can vary as a function of normative developmental trajectories.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

As a consequence, the production of security suffered from a lack of specialization.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

This omission could have serious consequences for the vitality of a bill of rights.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with consequence

consequence

These are words often used in combination with consequence.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

adverse consequence

The policy nexus has as an additional adverse consequence: the concentration of impoverished populations with few investment resources on marginal lands, at tropical forest frontiers and on erodible hillsides.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

behavioural consequences

Factors governing the effective remediation of negative affect and its cognitive and behavioural consequences.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

beneficial consequence

The reason is that in biology the optimal consequence is much stronger than the beneficial consequence in sociology.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with consequence

What is the pronunciation of consequence?